Melody

I hope all of you had a great Christmas..as I send out my heartiest wishes for the coming new year to all my blogger friends,I couldn't resist adding a bit of color to it! I did it some days ago--not planned, I just let the colors flow on the paper.I could see many imperfections in this and wasn't sure I wanted to post this but it always gives me a warm feeling when I share an artwork with you and on this new year , I certainly want to feel all warm and fuzzy!
Lets usher in this new year with the sweetest thoughts, lots of love and happiness for all.

In Black & White

I started this sketch because I wanted to draw someone beautiful...but soon realized my mistake of not choosing the 'right' subject! ( She is Alicia Silverstone, but I did not work on the likeness factor very much, here-- so you may not recognise her!) The problem was that her face did not have any shades..no gradients to work upon - so it got a little boring and I decided to speed up things and get over with it!
I hate leaving something unfinished, so I did complete this sketch, but honestly, not much time was spent on this one. About 2 hours.I think I need to find better paper...this cartridge paper shows through so much that dark tones are spoiled. I can't achieve the desired smoothness...
Any suggestions?

DSDF swaping portraits challenge

Here is the portrait that I submitted to DSDF challenge this year.I don't know the name of this elegant lady, but she is a fellow artist and blogger, and she will paint my portrait in turn; which you can see at Karin's blog Different Strokes from Different Folks.

There are many, many of them to come! Have a nice Day!

Lily for the weekend

I won't be painting much in next 2-3 days so this lily will be with you till I come back!
Happy weekend...
watercolor on paper

Finished version

Spent another two hours on this one as I was not satisfied with the first take. Background needed darker finish and face also needed some tweaking...I feel its better now.What's your take?

Happy Birthday Sis

A watercolor of my sister Deepti, who celebrates her birthday today. Its tough to capture people in lines and colors if you know them closely , but I have given it a try...Just hope she likes it!
The tilt of head is her 'trademark' trait:) so is her smile.
Happy Birthday, Sis!

The Veil

One of my not-so-good efforts...I am posting it here because I need to post regularly, to keep in touch with all of you--and I dont have anything else today!So here it goes, watercolor sketch of a rustic Indian woman . Not the usual 'youthful beauty' but she has an elegence about her.

Spiritual_2

Another portrait in Rishikesh series..a sanyasi basking in the winter morning sun ....
watercolor 16"x12"

Glorious

I have been neglecting my blog for quite some time. Distractions!... I did this magenta beauty in watercolors his morning...might help me to get back into the groove again.

watercolor, 16"X12"; cold pressed paper

Spiritual

This was done from a photo that my husband took on our recent trip to Rishikesh, a spiritual Indian town, also my birth place and hometown. My husband took a lot of pictures here , in the early morning sun.It was a time for prayers and meditation. This lady was also busy reading her holy book. She is wearing sffron robs, a color of spirituality, sacrifice and salvation.

The scene around here in the early morning looks very serene with lots of sadhus meditating and praying .
I always love quietly sitting on the ghats or roaming at the riverbank ; its immensely peaceful here. Ganga , or the Ganges, as it is globally called; is purest at this juncture, just flowing down from hills of Himalaya.

watercolor on 16"x10" paper

Joy Ride

A moment to cherish -- father-son duo enjoy a walk in nature. Childhood is fun, isn't it!
Watercolor, 7"x10"

Youth

This is Meghna, younger sister of my husband.Very vivacious, very charming, always ready to help! She is very fond of posing and loves being clicked....So last time she visited, I took this picture and promised her that I would paint her portrait very soon....I am going to give it to her on Diwali! I think it would make her happy!

I am a little worried about likeness factor..what's your take?

Water colors A3 ( 42cmX30cm) cold pressed 140 lb paper

Kenzie

This is the grand daughter of a dear fellow blogger Sandy . You can see the original photo at her blog.The girl is beautiful and looks like an angel...so I asked Sandy if I could paint her and she agreed --that was very nice of her....So here it goes.I hope Sandy likes it!
Water colors on 200lb paper
10"X14"

Years

Watercolor study of an aging man; 10"x 7"

She

A watercolor study of female face..12"x9"

Threesome....

Water color painting of Poppies, we artists just love them! The shape, the colors -- aren't they beautiful!...... Pity that I overdid the background to death, here! Hopefully, next time I would know where I am going!....
Water color on cold pressed paper, A3 size.

Hues

This is again a semi abstract style of painting with lots of colors and hues ( I like it that way!) I intend to put it on my room's wall...These are watercolors, by the way, but I used them with less water, making textures like I would do with acrylics...However, I used a bit of white acrylic in some places.
14"X12" watercolors on cold pressed paper 140 lb.

Treasure hunt

This was done from a photo that I had taken of my son picking up pebbles at Brighton's pebble beach, UK. As it happened, I was looking forward to taking a lot of photos that day, but the sun decided to play spoil sport.When we reached the beach, it became so cloudy that my spirits were dampened! This photo did not have any sunlight,too...But I have visualized it as I wanted it to be and added my own light here!
Water color, 14"x12"
cold pressed paper

Dancing in the Sun

Semi-abstract sunflowers...trying to loosen up a bit ( so much so that did not paint the stems!)! Experimented with colors also.Replaced the green of background with a more contrasting blue ...and gave the same treatment to the browns of the centers of flowers.Does it work?....
Water colors on cartridge paper
13'X10"

Who is That?...

May be he is wondering who is this 'dark guy' which moves along with him...
A quick water color sketch

Charming

This lady with a charming smile and lustrous hair is my Sister in Law. Sweet and soft spoken, I hope I have been able to bring out these characteristics in this portrait. Harsh sunlight is always tough to manage as I struggle with layers and layers of shadows....
Water colors on cold pressed paper 140lb, 11"x 8"

Innocence.....again

Innocence sleeps on the
dreaming eyelids of a toddling child
so nascent so fresh
as the drooling dews
on a quivering grass blades
the first morning of cool winter
smiles innocuously.
(courtesy: Tarapada Mohapatra )
A child is an irresistible subject...watercolor study.
9"x12" cold pressed Winsor and Newton paper

Anonymous

I vow to love you more than any other.
I shall embrace your feet with bouquets of flowers and kisses.
I will bestow on you every worldly treasures.
I will throw myself from the highest cliff
to kill any that dared tread over your path.
Oh, you ask who I am?
I can’t tell you that……

My submission for the August challenge "Anonymous" for TheArtistsChallenge .I feel it could have been better if done in acrylics...watercolors have their limitations.I am going to paint this theme again in oils or acrylics.But for now, this is all I have got to show!
Watercolors on the 'wrong side" of the coldpressed paper.9"x12"

Lonely

Watercolor on paper 15"x12"

15 August - Independence Day

A tribute to the spirit of India...on our 62nd Independence Day........

Innocence

A watercolor study of my son Arjun, while he was busy with his play-station!
12"X9"

Purple and Proud

I love these Coneflowers..one of the reasons why I spent hours on this painting in this heat ( 37 C) and humidity; sweating all over! Acrylics dry so fast that I didn't even run the fan !
Thinking if its good enough to send to Following the Masters challenge! May be I will...
Acrylics on 18"x12" canvas board

The Maharani

For details on this one, pls see my sketchblog...

Walk in a park

Two elderly women taking a leisurely stroll on a beautiful , sunny day in Regents Park, London . These women were enjoying it thoroughly and looked perfect in my frame.
From a photo from my archive...

A friend's Portrait

Ved has been a dear friend for almost about 15 years...very straight forward and simple guy.I hope I achieved both qualities in this portrait.
Water colors with a little digital processing ( as I used a reguler paper for this!)

Triumph

Used the masking fluid on this one.....Droplets couldn't have been possible otherwise ! Rest is wet on wet.. I was initially afraid of the fluid ruining the paper at the time of removal, but it didn't! So I guess, to a certain extent the experiment was a success!
water colors on cold pressed paper 9"X12"

Abstarct Roses

An abstract in acrylic...bunch of roses, actually! It was a house warming gift for my sister...

Click on it to see the enlarged version.

A Head Study

Laid Back

Another submission.Interestingly, this is my first pet portrait ....I liked the expression of this labrador.This was done for windowstothewordsart, a creative blog by james Parker.

DSDF July

This is my submission to Karin Jurick's Different Strokes from Different Folks
I like painting figures and portraits so it was a really good subject for me..."Man Resting on Metal Chair". There are a lot of terrific interpretations of it on the above blog. Enjoy.

Sunshine Lilies

Hi..trying to get back into the groove.....it feels like ages since I posted my last painting! I was stuck without my Internet for more than two weeks.. and I am amazed at how it affected my painting. I just didn't feel like painting because I couldn't share it with anyone --- what was the point!?...
Well now things seem to be getting better so I am posting this clumsy attempt at Lilies.These were white with a little tinge of yellow. Its already tough to paint flowers in watercolors and I foolishly chose a big size....I couldn't manage the details very well ..so it has come out as disappointment! Still I have got to post something, so here it goes. Better luck next time:)
Watercolors on cold pressed paper 14"X 12"

David's Self Portrait Blog...

If you remember my self portrait a little while ago, here is the follow up...David has posted all the self portraits of many, many talented artists on his new blog http://spgloballovein.blogspot.com/, including mine....If you haven't been there yet, its time!

Go on, take a peak...

The House

Take 2

Is it better than the previous one? I can't decide!

Childhood

Another portrait, another happy little girl ( I have not chanced upon any boys here... what to do!) Although I am not very happy with this portrait ... she is not this dark! ..it was just the harsh light of noon that was the culprit. May be I should try another portrait of her.Meanwhile you are welcome to find out where did I go wrong!

This is Manu, the five year old daughter of our cousin in Oxford.

Water colors, 12"X 9"

KENT

Hi folks..missed you all for past four days...but I had a really wonderful extended weekend! I got to see Kent ,a beautiful district, south to London.They call it the 'Garden of England'...and rightly so! .....Such a lovely place! We went to stay in Royal Tunebridge Wells, a lovely town with an old world charm.I got this opportunity because my mother;s childhood friend (She is a doctor,who has been living here for last 30 something years) invited us over to stay with them at their charming country house which is spread over acres of land with a lovely garden!
We stayed there over weekend and wished it could be more....had a real good time!My husband took hundreds of photos...i will share some of them with you:)


Upon arrival we saw this place which is said to be the oldest part of the town..

Couldn't resist a photo here!

The beautiful house that we stayed in....

A room with a view!.....

Arjun looks very happy on his bunkbed, posing along with his 'crewmate!

A Happy Smile

My niece Diya...I am doing this portrait for second time....hope its better than my previous effort.
Watercolor on 300gsm watercolor paper
9"x12"

A bit of London

I have been thinking that while I am in London, I should paint something of the city.But since I not really good in painting architecture and cityscapes , I was stalling it for quite some time. the 'Eureka!' moment happened yesterday when I was going through my camera pics.I took this picture when we went to the Thames two weeks ago.These musicians were stting under the bridge and playing a lively band!..I took this pic from the bridge above. So, we settle for this!
A little bit of London, surely. If you have been to Thames, you can't miss the artists, musicians, and the funny man Charlie Chaplin ( he is next on my list!) on the walk besides the river. I loved them all.
Water color on paper

Goldfinch

I painted this Goldfinch , inspired by photographs by my blogger friend, Fred Walsh. This is the first time I painted a bird! They also have character, you know.... It might take some more attempts to get those birds right.( The flowers were much more work!) But they are beautiful; aren't they?
Water color on CP watercolor paper

9"X12"